Shallow Waters and Orange Sunsets
by Diamond Chrysanthemum
Summary: [Summer! AU] He needed to do something about those two. It was only the second week of summer vacation and he was already over it. Kyuubi wracked through the memories of his previous summers meticulously, searching for some kind of activity to get them out of the house for the rest of the holiday, at least. SasuNaru NejiGaa


_**Shallow Waters and Orange Sunsets**_

_**I:** Enough is Enough!_

* * *

><p>"Shush, Gaara!"<p>

"I'm not the one yelling."

"But, those stupid platform shoes are making too much fucking noise! Why are you wearing those stupid things, anyway?"

"I don't believe that is any of your business."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Whatever, just take them off."

"I refuse."

"This is my house!"

_Kyuubi growled. It was three a.m in the morning and they were **still** up.  
><em>

"I'm not taking the shoes off, Naruto."

_He swung his legs over the side of his bed._

"Am I going to have to make you?"

_His feet slid into the warm slippers._

"You really want to fight right now? What about your ramen?"

_His right eye twitched as he rose to his feet._

"You're lucky that I'm too hungry to fight. But if Kyuubi wakes up 'cause of those dumb—''

The elder man's lips twitched into a sadistic smile as he stared down at the two pajama clad boys. He grabbed a fistful of hair from each of their heads and pulled forward, successfully knocking their heads together. Hearing the groans of pain from both boys only made the sadist happier.

"Ah! Bastard," Naruto cried, nursing the bump forming on his head.

Gaara could only glare at the eldest male as he tried to keep his cool. He couldn't stand people touching him.

"Go to bed! And that doesn't mean just get in the bed and continue playing that stupid video game, it means go to fucking sleep," Kyuubi hollered.

"Mecha Shinobi 3 is NOT stupid!" Naruto defended. "It's life."

The eldest of the three narrowed his golden eyes menacingly. "Get to bed." He growled, emphasizing each word.

"But, what about my ramen?"

"Bed."

Naruto stared at his elder brother's face for a moment or so before grumbling,

"Fine."

The boisterous mix of Naruto's stamping feet and Gaara's thick platform shoes against the wooden floor prompted a miserable groan from the orange-haired male, who only wanted to get some sleep before work, which would commence in only couple hours.

He needed to do something about those two. It was only the second week of summer vacation and he was already over it.

Kyuubi wracked through the memories of his previous summers meticulously, searching for some kind of activity to get them out of the house for the rest of the holiday, at least. When he came upon the most perfect solution, a grin so wide and so devious spread across his once frowning face.

"I know just the thing to get rid of those brats," he cackled.

_**-:-**_

Both Naruto and Gaara were snuggled deep under the comforter when the rather loud cackle reached their ears. The red-head shifted uncomfortably, turning towards his only companion.

"Naruto?" He whispered.

"Huh?"

"Is your brother all right?"

There was a short pause before the blonde answered. "I doubt it."

"How did I know," he muttered, turning back towards the wall. He could only glare at it, hoping that soon enough his eyes would get tired and begin to droop, allowing him to finally get some sleep. However, just like every night, Gaara's eyes did not once droop and he didn't feel tired. It was pretty agitating, really. Mostly, because if he wasn't sleeping or doing something to occupy himself he would begin to think about certain topics. Topics that made sleeping even more impossible than it had been before.

He shivered at the mere thought of thinking about it, prompting Naruto to pull him into his arms, spooning him. In his mind he found multiple things wrong with this. One, although, he didn't mind when Naruto touched him as opposed to other people, that did not mean that he liked being held as if he were some scared child. Two, he was supposed to be the big spoon if ever in a spooning situation. He didn't like nor do little spoon. Oh no ma'am, little spoon was for submissive weenies like the strange cross-dressing boy in his algebra class, Haku Yuki. And three, his feelings for Naruto only exceeded friendship into brotherhood. Nothing less nothing more. However, despite his dissatisfaction Gaara didn't make any moves to throw Naruto's arms from around him, knowing all too well that the blonde would only tighten his grip if he did so.

There were times when Gaara admired his dear friend's persistence. This wasn't one of those times.

* * *

><p><strong>~*~The Next Morning~*~<strong>

Naruto lazily dragged his tooth brush over his just barely white teeth. His eyelids were heavy and he temporarily forgot why he was even awake. It wasn't even noon yet!

_"Join us, Sasuke-kun." A ghostly pale man licks his lips and beckons to the teen with his hands._

It all quickly flashed before his eyes and was gone as fast as it came, but it was enough to send chills down Naruto's spine. It wasn't common that Naruto dreamed of random strange men with anaconda-like tongues, especially ones who wanted Sasuke, another one of his best friends.

In terms of best friendship, he wasn't on the same level that Gaara was on.

Naruto and Sasuke had known each other since grade school. The two boys started out as enemies, completely hating each others guts because of a minor punch to the face on the during recess one day in kindergarten. If asked, Naruto would claim that it was only an accident, but in all honesty, it wasn't. He was genuinely so jealous of Sasuke and how perfect he seemed to be that he took to punching him in the face to resolve his inner turmoil. Too bad he didn't know Uchiha's could hold a grudge, because it wasn't until fourth grade that things between them began to change. At first, neither boy was too happy when Iruka-sensei sat them both in the same group, but sitting with each other really caused them to see each other for who they really were. And as their knowledge of each other progressed so did their relationship. They went enemies to inseparable in only one month. Even now they were still relatively inseparable, however they didn't spend as much time together as they used to when they were still children, hence why it was Gaara at his house rather than Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't like Gaara. Gaara only harbored feelings of indifference for Sasuke. And Naruto cared about them both. If Sasuke was a little bit less of a possessive bastard than they could all most likely be able to hang out together once in a while, but the whole reason Sasuke didn't like Gaara was because Gaara was Naruto's friend, otherwise known as competition for his attention. Sasuke wasn't fond of any sort of competition that had to do with the attention of people he cared for.

"Morning," Gaara greeted as he dragged his feet into the bathroom. He didn't even need to glance into the mirror to know that their were bags under the bags of his eyes.

"You know sleeping pills might help," Naruto pointed out, spitting globs of toothpaste foam from his clean mouth.

"Yeah. I'll starting getting those when I want to become a drug addict."

The blonde haired boy rolled his eyes. Gaara always had to have some kind of comeback to whatever he said.

"Good morning boys," Kyuubi beamed as he practically skipped into the bathroom.

"What's got you so happy?" Naruto furrowed his light eyebrows. It was strange to see his brother in this good of a mood before work, especially with how angry he had been the night before. He was genuinely worried for the sanity of the elder at this point.

"Oh nothing, but if you insist on knowing, I'll tell you. Guess who's going to summer camp?"

"Aren't you a little old, Kyuubi? I mean your nearly thirty. Creepy."

Gold eyes twitched. "Twenty-two is not nearly thirty, idiot." Kyuubi took in and let out a deep breath in attempt to calm himself, because he knew that if he didn't he would have punched Naruto's lights out. The young man was a rather ill-tempered one. That's what happens when you have to endure years with one of the Konoha District's biggest idiots for a little brother. "Besides, it's not me. It's you."

"No thanks."

"It isn't optional."

"You can't tell me what to do."

"But, mom can."

"You're not mom, are you? Nope, didn't think so."

"I may not be mom, but I spoke with her last night and she said it was a great idea to get you out of the house for the summer."

"But, I don't wanna!" Naruto whined. "I have all I need right here, in this house!" He gestured towards his bedroom then to Gaara.

"Too bad, you're too annoying to keep around."

"Is this because Gaara and I watched you and Itachi fuck? I'm sorry all right. I just wanted to know what it was like live."

"You what?!"

"Erm, nothing. I am sorry for being annoying or whatever. I'll stop, I promise!" He drawled, clinging to his brothers bicep.

"Nope, you're gone."

**~*~Later~*~**

Unfortunately, begging did nothing for changing Kyuubi's mind and might have actually made him even more eager to get rid of Naruto and Gaara. So, now the former had to begin finding a way to make this whole camp thing work.

"You're coming with me right, Gaara?"

"Give me a reason why I would ever want to."

"Because you're my bestest friend in the whole wide world, of course." A cheesy grin spread from one of Naruto's ears to the other as he wrapped his arms around Gaara in a hug.

"I believe that spot is occupied by Sasuke."

"No, it's you." Gaara rolled his sea foam green eyes and began plucking Naruto from his torso.

"Sure it is."

"I swear!" And the whining began once again.

"Nah."

"I'll tickle if you say anything, but yes."

"Fine, I'll go," Gaara agreed, reluctantly. He couldn't stand the thought of going to summer camp. In his mind it was as if he was going to school during the summer, one of the few times when he was finally free from interacting with and feeling the judgement of his fellow peers.

Naruto tackled the other boy onto the carpeted floor and began tickling him, after all he did say "fine" instead of "yes."

* * *

><p><em>Is it worth continuing or is it complete trash?<em>


End file.
